Pinnacle Cares For You Limited

Pinnacle Cares For You is a is a domiciliary care agency providing personal care to people in their own homes. The service supports older people. At the time of our inspection there were 72 people receiving the regulated activity of personal care.

Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

People’s experience of the service and what we found

People felt safe and well supported. They benefitted from receiving a continuity of care from a core team of carers, who knew them well. The provider used an electronic call monitoring system and associated software to ensure that call times were well planned and that people, and the staff who supported them, were safe.

There were always enough staff to meet people’s needs and staff were consistently on time, as well as staying for the full duration of calls. Staff knew how to keep people safe and reacted promptly when they had any concerns.

The culture was an open, learning one, within which any errors were used as an opportunity for learning.

Medicines were managed safely and staff competence and knowledge reviewed regularly. Staff were trained in core areas to keep people safe, and in areas specific to individual needs.

The provider proactively analysed data to establish any developing patterns or trends, and to improve practice.

People, their relatives and external professionals all felt the service was well run and organised. They had confidence in staff and systems at all levels.

The provider worked proactively with people, relatives and partners to ensure the care they were delivering was to a high standard.

The registered manager was open, transparent, keen to continually improve the service and knowledgeable about the broader health and social care landscape.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was Good (published 8 August 2018).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.

For those key questions not inspected, we used the ratings awarded at the last inspection to calculate the overall rating. The overall rating for the service has remained good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

Follow Up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.

Not everyone using Pinnacle Cares For You received regulated activity; the CQC only inspects the service being received by people provided with ‘personal care’; help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.

The service had a registered manager in post. The registered manager had been in post since the service was registered. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the CQC to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run. The registered manager was on annual leave during this inspection, therefore we liaised with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the operations director.

Staff were trained and understood their responsibilities with regards to safeguarding people from harm. Incidents of safeguarding matters had been recorded, investigated, reported and were monitored. The local authorities who commissioned services had no concerns about the service. People told us they felt safe with support from care staff and relatives confirmed this.

Staff supported people to maintain their health and safety in their own home. Fully completed risk assessments of the known risks people faced were in place for care staff to follow. These were regularly updated to reflect any changes in people’s care needs. Accidents and incidents were comprehensively recorded and investigated to resolve issues and reduce the likelihood of a repeat occurrence.

Medicines were well managed. Electronic medicine administration records were used and we saw these were accurate and up to date. Competency checks were conducted with care staff to ensure they remained competent with this task. Unannounced spot checks were regularly carried out to ensure high standards were upheld.

A policy was in place to protect people from the risks of infection. The company provided care staff with personal protective equipment (PPE).

Staff recruitment was safe and robust. 20 care staff were employed and we considered this was enough to safely and effectively meet people’s needs. People told us care staff were consistent and arrived as expected most of the time.

The company mainly recruited qualified and experienced care staff. They received a company induction and had regular training updates. A robust induction programme had been delivered to two care staff who did not have extensive experience. Care staff attended regular supervision sessions as part of their personal development plan. Records confirmed this. Care staff told us they felt very supported by the management team.

People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.

The CEO shared multiple examples of people who had achieved a positive outcome following successful support from staff.

People told us that care staff made meals of their choice. External healthcare and social care professionals were involved with people’s care to ensure their ongoing welfare.

Without exception, people and relatives told us all staff were caring, kind and respectful. People said care staff upheld their dignity and privacy.

Support plans contained very person-centred information. People’s needs were thoroughly assessed, planned and reviewed to ensure they received suitable care to meet their healthcare needs. Care staff supported people to pursue their interests and hobbies.

The provider had invested in an innovative electronic monitoring and rostering system. Care staff were given smart phones to access and operate the system. Relatives could securely log in and review information about their relatives care and the service delivered.

No-one we spoke with raised any complaints about the service. Our pre-inspection questionnaire corroborated this. There was a complaints policy in place. No formal complaints had been received by the service. We saw minor issues had been logged, investigated and promptly resolved.

There was a plan in place to issue annual surveys to people, relatives and care staff. People and relatives told us they were regularly contacted by the management team to ask if the service met with their satisfaction, which they told us it did.

The CEO ensured the service was properly monitored. The electronic monitoring system was embedded into the service which gave ‘real time’ feedback. Audits and analysis of all aspects of the service was systematically implemented and provided comprehensive information to the management team to help them to promptly identify and reduce any risks. Action plans were drafted to ensure any issues identified were dealt with.